how the net is transforming the way we work and earn

Hi. Nicole Hyman here. I’m a fourth year Journalism and Media Studies student at Rhodes University , South Africa. The aim of this blog is to explore the utility of the internet in a South African context and to determine how it is changing the way people work and earn.

I have set myself one main challenge for this blog : I want to see if I can find a job , using social media , for an unemployed Grahamstonian who would ordinarily rely on notice boards as a means of finding employment. Perhaps this will provide some insight into the utility of social media as a job seeking tool. I’ll be documenting my progress on this blog as well as on my Twitter page (My Twitter Page).

I started my blog, http://www.worms.blat.co.za, to advertise my product. I must say I have never looked back since. Currently I haven’t considered any other advertising medium as my staff and I can’t keep up with the demand from the blog. Could be a niche, who knows. All I know is that if you search “earthworms” on google, I am right there on page 1.

I think you make a good point. There are really cost-effective ways of advertising a product without using Google Adwords. The only problem is that requires a bit of net savvy as you need to know how to promote a blog effectively etc.

As for me trying to find an unemployed person a job, I don’t have anyone specific in mind. The idea is to set up an online employment agency to give those normally excluded from the internet and social networking applications more exposure.

It is proving to be quite a challenge as most domestic workers don’t have access to the internet. So I am looking into using something like Twitter which relies on cellphones. If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them.